


Stake Out!

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Jingle Bells Batman Smells Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-02
Updated: 2011-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-13 17:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1235785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An early tag-team between the sidekicks</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stake Out!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DYlogger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DYlogger/gifts).



"It's cold here," Speedy complained, perched on the corner of a building, supposedly watching the alley below him, but more concerned with the state of his frozen fingers and nose and ears. Especially his fingers. Even with the gloves that only left the tips of his draw fingers exposed, which he then kept tucked in his armpit, he was certain they had frostbite.

"It's winter, Speedy. Don't you go out in the winter?" Robin asked, teasing him as he did keep an eye on his alley.

"Yeah, but it doesn't snow there. And I'm from...somewhere hot. Most of the time, it is, anyway." Speedy frowned. "Whatever. It's snowing. My bowstring is going to snap when I pull it, if those guys even come this way. Assuming it doesn't slice my icicle fingers off."

"It'll be okay. It drops any further and Batman will make us head for the safe-house," Robin said. He wished it could be the manor, but even if Batman trusted Green Arrow enough to call in the pair for a tag-team on a case using both coasts, it wasn't a good enough cause to break secret identities. At least Alfred would have gotten thermoses of cocoa and other goodies to the safe-house for them all.

"So he 'makes' you do things, huh? Not me and G.A.! Not at all!" Speedy grinned smugly. "All my choice."

Robin had to roll his eyes at that. "Don't be a doofus. I'm talking about him calling me out of the cold or the rain or whatever. 'Cause I'd so stay out as long as he was, every time! Except then he scolds, and … someone else gets involved." 

Roy rolled his shoulders; it might have been to warm or loosen his arms, or it might have been a shrug of indifference. "So why are we staking out this building? Why not one of the others? Or two?"

"Because there's two main routes, and two back routes, from the warehouse we identified as theirs. To catch them with the goods, we have to catch them en route. They're more likely to use the back ways, so we get one, and the other two get the other one." Robin wondered if Speedy was this bad on stakeouts in Star City. They all picked on Kid Flash for having the attention span of a gnat, but at least he had a reason.

"And what if we have the wrong one? Will they yell for us, or keep all the fun for themselves?" Speedy asked, shifting around again to look down into his alley way.

"Depends on if Batman thinks there were more than the ones they nab."

"And if they come our way?" Speedy asked, a sly challenge in his voice.

"We tell Batman," Robin said, firmly, glancing over to get a feel for how Speedy accepted the order. Speedy seemed to accept it, no ill-will at all about being bossed around by Robin, and that reassured the native sidekick.

The sound of two motorcycles caught Robin's ears first, but then he caught sight of Speedy moving to get a better look too. The pair of bikes matched the visual description they had, and Robin was pretty certain they were well in the right to follow and observe.

"Batman, two wheelies on the track; Speedy and I will follow," he said into his communicator.

 _"Be careful, chum. We're en route."_ The answer was expected by Robin, and greeted with less than enthusiastic obedience from Speedy.

"I bet you never get to have all the fun," Speedy griped, but he moved easily with Robin to keep a tail on the two motorcycles below. The roads slowed the bikes more than it slowed the adept pair of heroes...even if Speedy did slip and have to catch himself once or twice on the slippery roofs. 

"It's just playing safe, Speedy," Robin pointed out, really worried about the way Speedy was acting, and how unsafe he must be in Star City. Maybe Robin needed to talk to Batman about this. Or maybe he was just reading too much into it all.

`~`~`~`~`

Robin wasn't sure what had happened. One minute they had been following, and the next they were being shot at. He was certain they couldn't have been heard over the motorcycles and the wind and the heights.

Robin did admit, in that split second when he registered they were being shot at, that Speedy had taken note and action as quickly as he had. That was one concern out of the back of Robin's mind, before the pair were only thinking about how not to get hurt and also subdue the bad guys before the bad guys hurt someone else.

Robin threw a bird-a-rang at each of the men, making them flinch, and then Speedy was right behind him with two arrows. The first was a net, hitting its target effectively enough to knock him free of the motorcycle and tangle him on the freezing cold street. The second was a gas-head of some kind, puffing out some smoke in the crisp air. Robin readied to take the fight down to the henchmen, but Speedy caught his elbow, smiling like the rascal he played up to being around the others.

"Wait for it," the usually impatient archer told him, eyes going back to the henchman in the gas. "Wind's right...it'll get both of them."

No sooner did Robin focus on the one that could get away still than he saw the man sneeze. Once...twice...three times, and it showed no sign of stopping by the time the gas reached the second one and got him going.

"Wears off in five, but until then? Well, They won't be aiming anything," Speedy said, sounding very proud of himself.

"Gee, Speedy, that's a neat trick. I wouldn't mind trying it in some of my smoke pellets," Robin said. "Tell me later?"

"Yeah. Until then...." Speedy fired off one more arrow, a bola type, that wrapped around the first sneezer's chest and arms, binding them down so the boys could safely truss the pair to their bikes, with all the stolen goods still in the saddlebags.

Robin thought Gotham City Police Department was going to have a field day with this one. And when it came down to it, maybe Speedy's complaining and such had been so much about being unsafe, as just eager to show off.

Robin decided that Speedy showing off was an okay thing, when it meant no one got hurt at all.

"Come on, Speedy," Robin said after telling Batman what had happened, and learning that the two adults had encountered another pair, who had probably radioed Robin's pair to be on the lookout. "I'm for some hot cocoa and a blanket. You?"

"Yeah...sounds swell, Robin."


End file.
